Angela Corbett’s short story, “What Happened to Our Giant Inflatable Heart” appeared in Issue 13 and can be read here.
Tell us a little about “What Happened to Our Giant Inflatable Heart.”
This story is part obsession, part experience. It was inspired by a friend’s announcement they were seeking a kidney donor, my fascination with the human body and what family means and cults and the simultaneous impossibility and inevitability of human connection. I always love a good downward spiral, too, so that’s a driving force of this piece.
What was the most difficult part of writing this story?
The length. I typically write shorter. But I enjoyed writing this story so much that I’m working on a lot of longer pieces now.
Recommend a book for us which was published within the last decade.
“Him, Me, Muhammad Ali,” by Randa Jarrar, whose writing is hilarious and poignant and unapologetic. The stories stunned me; the characters, the honesty, the painful kind of loveliness. It’s one of my favorite collections.
If you could have a drink with any living author, who would it be? Why?
Miranda July, who might be my soul mate (not to be weird, Miranda, if you ever read this) and Mohsin Hamid and Roxane Gay and Ramona Ausubel and George Saunders and… I would be very awkward as usual.
What are you working on now? What’s next?
I worship the short story. I’m working on finishing a collection now, and “What Happened to Our Giant Inflatable Heart” is a pretty good indication of what it’s like—a woman has an identity crisis at the funeral home where she works, a professional speed eater falls in love with her dentist, a teenager dreams of fame while working at a hotdog joint. You know, the usual stuff.
Our thanks to Angela for taking the time to answer a few questions and share her work. Read “What Happened to Our Giant Inflatable Heart” here: https://www.sequestrum.org/fiction-what-happened-to-our-giant-inflatable-heart.
___________________________________
Angela Corbett is from Ohio. Her short story, “Grievers” won the 2015 Sonora Review fiction contest judged by Stuart Dybek and was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She has her my MFA in Fiction from California State University, Fresno where she worked as Online Managing Editor for the Normal School. Someday, she’d like to run away from all this and go to clown school.